Walking Dead showrunner Glen Mazarra says the third season is going to be every bit as extreme as the comics. Plus creator Robert Kirkman is reconsidering the one thing from the comics he said Rick would never do on television!

Plus — is a Dark Knight Rises cameo finally confirmed?

Jennifer Lawrence says Catching Fire will live up to Hunger Games despite the change of directors.

Mad Max: Fury Road hits another setback, but at least this one won't shut down filming for two more years (probably).

Plus casting updates for Game of Thrones, American Horror Story, and Revolution!

Spoilers from here on out!

Top image from Game of Thrones.

The Dark Knight Rises

The film's European premiere has a list of all the cast members attending, and one of the names on the list is Scarecrow actor Cillian Murphy. It's been strongly rumored that Murphy would return for at least a cameo, along the lines of his appearance in The Dark Knight — but the actor has pointedly refused to confirm or deny these reports on the reasonable enough grounds that the movie will soon be released, and then we'll all find out anyway. This latest news would suggest that Murphy is indeed going to be in the movie — or that he just enjoys free drinks and Europe and finagled his way into an invite. I'd bet on the former, though. [HeyUGuys]

Captain America 2

The North Carolina legislature is reportedly trying to extend the tax breaks that attracted Iron Man 3 to film in the state, and one of the intended targets of this measure is the Captain America sequel. While there's no word on whether the sequel's locations would actually require North Carolina, the state has a ton of film studios and production stages, which is really what makes it attractive to film there. Well, that and the tax breaks, of course. [Latino Review]

Catching Fire

Star Jennifer Lawrence says she has met with new director Francis Lawrence, who replaces the departing Gary Ross, and says she is impressed with where the I Am Legend director is going with the sequel:

"The new movie will be very real, which is what I'm excited about. I really like his take, which is a lot of what I liked in Gary Ross. It's the realistic grasp of the story instead of all the details of the imaginary things. He's not trying to reinvent anything."

Meanwhile, the race for the key new role of Johanna Mason is reportedly down to Sucker Punch's Jena Malone and actress-model Zoe Aggeliki, who will have her first major film appearance in the upcoming Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds dead cop movie R.I.P.D.. At this point, it's Aggeliki who reportedly has the edge over the more experienced Malone and is in "more serious talks" for the part. [Deadline]

Mad Max: Fury Road

George Miller has reportedly abandoned his plans to shoot the fourth Mad Max movie — featuring Tom Hardy taking over for Mel Gibson in the title role — in 3D. Instead, he and cinematographer John Seale will shoot the film in 2D, then post-convert to 3D. Considering the very spotty record of post-conversion, that's a bit disappointing, but as the original report from IF notes, it was never going to be easy to shoot the thing in 3D:

Filmmaker George Miller was understood to have been developing new 3D cameras and rigs based on technology originally developed by Dalsa Corporation although there was some scepticism that an untried system would be able to withstand the tough desert conditions and extensive stunt work the film requires.

When you look at the endless delays and setbacks this film has endured — seriously, we're talking Terry Gilliam levels of behind-the-scenes mayhem here — I'd say Miller has earned the right to be risk-averse. [IF]

Cloud Atlas

Here's a rather nice poster for the upcoming adaptation of David Mitchell's 2004 novel. The poster comes from the website of the Wachowskis' managers, which explains why their names are on there but not their co-director, Run Lola Run's Tom Twyker. As such, this isn't likely to form a major part of any advertising campaigns for the movie, but it's still cool to look at. [Bleeding Cool]

After Earth

Here's the synopsis for M. Night Shyamalan's latest, starring Jaden Smith and his father Will in a supporting part:

"In After Earth, one thousand years after cataclysmic events forced humanity's escape from Earth, Nova Prime has become mankind's new home. Legendary General Cypher Raige (played by Will Smith) returns from an extended tour of duty to his estranged family, ready to be a father to his 13-year-old son, Kitai (played by Jaden Smith). When an asteroid storm damages Cypher and Kitai's craft, they crash-land on a now unfamiliar and dangerous Earth. As his father lies dying in the cockpit, Kitai must trek across the hostile terrain to recover their rescue beacon. His whole life, Kitai has wanted nothing more than to be a soldier like his father. Today, he gets his chance."

Hancock 2

Speaking of Will Smith, director Peter Berg is still pretty sure he wants to make another Hancock movie and that audiences want to see this happen:

Will Smith is up for any challenge, and he's definitely up for discussing it. Whether or not that all comes out and equals us actually doing it is never known, but it's something that we've talked about... It's something that we've started talking about. We kicked some ideas around. I think we all would like to do it, it's just a question of getting everybody free at the same time. I think it's not just Will, but the producers and the studio. We all loved doing ‘Hancock.' If the stars align in the right direction, I think it's something that could happen.

You know, that just might be the most painfully noncommittal, watered-down update I've ever seen. [MTV Splash Page]

Fringe

Here's a poster for the fifth and final season, which pretty much confirms that, yes, that Observer-dominated future is going to be a very big deal. [SpoilerTV]

Game of Thrones

Clive Russell, who has a ton of credits in Britain but might be most recognizable over here for his role as Captain Tanner in the Robert Downey, Jr. Sherlock Holmes movies, has joined the cast for season three as Ser Brynden Tully, better known as the Blackfish. At least, that's the news release put out by his management company — so, not official, but that would be a hell of a weird thing for a management company to just make up. [SpoilerTV]

The addition of Morocco as a fourth filming country next season alongside Northern Ireland, Iceland, and Croatia is reportedly "mainly for Daenerys's storyline, which is particularly strong next season." This isn't exactly surprising, given the country's climate and what in Westeros or Essos it could realistically depict, but that would seem to rule out speculation that it would be used to portray Dorne — unless of course you want to interpret that as the reason for the "mainly" modifier. [EW]

The Walking Dead

Showrunner Glen Mazzara discusses some of what's ahead in season three:

The prison is a threatening presence in itself. The prison is a haunted house. The prison is not as safe as our group or the audience may want it to be. There is still a lot of danger always lurking within the prison and beyond the prison walls... Rick is a very strong leader. There's a lot of emotional baggage coming out of Season 2. And yet, all of the characters will develop in an organic yet surprising way...We're interested in exploring Carl as a child soldier in this war against the walkers. He's no longer the young child who needs to be minded. That Carl is gone. Now Carl is on a character path in which he becomes as instrumental to the group as Rick or Daryl (Norman Reedus) or anyone else.

They also look even further ahead to what the show will do beyond the third season. Robert Kirkman even seems to walk back his earlier declarations that the show won't cut off Rick's hand like he did in the comics, which I'm sure Andrew Lincoln is just thrilled to hear:

Yeah, and as we get closer to the story line, I don't want to remind people that I set things in stone like that. Constantly, we're up against things in the comics where it would be awesome if Rick could... oh, Rick can't do that, he only has one hand. That is something that I regret, but I wouldn't put it past us. I'm not ruling anything out. Season 3 is going to be pretty nuts.

It sounds as though the Governor and Michonne could be around long beyond the third season's sixteen episodes. There's tons more at the link. [TV Guide]

Revolution

Lost star Elizabeth Mitchell — it's generally considered polite to just completely forget about V — has reportedly been cast as "the compassionate and concerned long-absent mother of the show's two young leads, Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos) and Danny (Graham Rogers)" on J.J. Abrams' and Supernatural creator Eric Kripke's NBC show about a post-apocalyptic world where electrical devices don't work anymore. Mitchell's character, Rachel Matheson, was originally played by Andrea Roth in the pilot before this recasting, and the move is part of a slightly larger retooling of the show that also includes phasing out the character Maggie, played by Australian actress Anna Lise Philips. So, uh, don't get too attached to Maggie. [EW]

The last part of the retool is the reported addition of Friday Night Lights actress Daniella Alonso as the new regular character Nora, described as "a rebel fighter, battling against the militia that controls North America, [who] likes to blow up stuff, and she has a lot of rough water under the bridge with" the protagonist Miles Matheson, played by Twilight dad sheriff Billy Burke. [Deadline]

American Horror Story

The Secret Circle and The Amazing Spider-Man actor Chris Zylka has confirmed that he will appear on the show's completely different second season. While he didn't reveal any additional details, his character is reportedly Daniel, described as "the most beautiful boy in the world and a deaf mute." OK, so maybe the show isn't going to be that different. [E! Online]

Falling Skies

Here are some promo photos and the official description for episode six, "Homecoming", which airs July 15.

Hal stumbles across bodies of de-harnessed kids and finds someone from his past. Tom and Anne grow closer. And Weaver's health deteriorates just as Tom discovers he may have been keeping important matters from the group in order to protect them.